Queen guitarist Brian May recently revealed the guitarist’s name who ‘made his jaw drop.’ In a recent chat with Guitar World, May was among the many names that shared the same view about the guitarist.
May revealed which song of the guitarist stunned him:
“When it comes to Nuno [Bettencourt] ‘s playing, we have to start with the new single, ‘Rise.’ Nuno sent it to me a few months before it was released, and, Jesus, I was stunned.”
It seems that initially the Queen guitarist wasn’t entirely focused on the song, but there was a particular part that caught his attention and left him stunned. He explained what he was doing at the time and which part of the song had such an effect on him. He said:
“I clicked the button as I was doing other stuff, as you do, and I sort of had it in the background and I just stopped dead when he got to the solo. I thought, ‘What the hell is he doing?’ I had to go back and listen to it about 10 times. It’s awesome. It’s incredible. After all this time, he still comes up with stuff that you would never dream of.
After mentioning Bettencourt’s ‘Get The Funk Out’ and calling its solo ‘insane,’ May explained how he feels about the Extreme guitarist’s skills. He said:
“In general, I think Nuno’s just a glorious player. He’s so colorful, and obviously, his dexterity is extraordinary. There’s plenty of fast, accurate guitarists, but what he brings to it is this amazing spirit. It’s energetic, and it’s lyrical, and he doesn’t lose sight of the fact that there are tunes. I don’t know where that stuff comes from. It makes my jaw drop, in a very good way.
May has expressed his admiration for the Extreme guitarist in previous interviews. During a March interview, May named a few guitarists he enjoys listening to, but he specifically mentioned Bettencourt and his skills as something he could never achieve. He explained:
“There’s people I listen to everyday that do things that I could never do. Nuno, I listen to Nuno Bettencourt and I just smile because it’s so beautiful and it’s way out of what I could ever do. It doesn’t bother me, ’cause I don’t feel in competition, I just love the guy and I love what he does.”
It seems that Bettencourt picked up valuable guitar techniques from May. During a conversation, Nuno shared that bending notes melodically, embracing simplicity, and accepting it as a strength were three significant lessons he learned. Additionally, he disclosed struggling with solo parts of songs at first and credited May for teaching him that playing guitar for the song is the foundation for a great solo.
The song May was stunned by is one of Extreme’s comeback songs, which came out on March 5. Check it out below.
